Printing-press



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G. WILLIAMSON'.

. PRINTING PRESS. No. 290.301. Patented Deo. 1 8. 1883.

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l G. WILLIAMSON.

l PRINTING PRESS.

No. 290,301.- Patented Deo. I8, 1883.

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Unire STATES Aren Fries.

GEORGE WILLIAMSON, OF CAMBRIDGE,`ASSIGNOR TO J. O. HAYDEN, OF SOM- ERVILLE, AND VALTER G. CHASE, OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS.

PRINTING-PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 290,301, dated December 18, 1883. Application filed vNovember 23, 18.82. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom il; may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonen WiLLIAMsoN, of Cambridge, county of Middlesex, State 'of Massachusetts, have invented an vImprovement in Printing-Presses, of which the following description, in connection with the accom# panying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

My invention, relating to printing-presses, is shown embodied in a press substantially such as described in Letters Patent No. 97,185, dated November 28, 1869, to which reference may be had, the present invention relating especially to the inking mechanism. In the said presses the ink is conveyed from a roller, which may, for convenience, vbe called the fountain-roller, it dipping inthe usual inkfountain, and having a rotary movement therein, to a distributing-cylinder by means of an intermediate transferring-roller lying between the peripheries of the said distributing-cylinder and fountain-roller',` the said intermediate roller being of too small diameter to touch both the other rollers at the same time, and being moved back and forth between them by` the impression mechanism to convey the ink from one to the other. By this constructionk a certain amount of ink is conveyed to the distributing-cylinder at each movement of the said intermediate roller, and is then applied to the surface of the type bythe inking-rollers, which travel from the distributing-cylinder to and over the faces of the type between each impression. Vhen a comparatively small surface is occupied by the typee-as, for instance, when printing headings to blank sheets-a much smaller amount of ink is used than when the entire surface of the bed is occupied by the type, and in order to supply the proper amount of ink under such varying circumstances in the presses ofthe class referred to, it has heretofore been necessary to adj ust the ink-fountain so as to cause a greater or less amount of ink to be delivered upon the fountain-roller dipping therein and trans- Such an adjustment of the ink-fountain occupies a considerable amount of time, and consequently is an expensive and tedious operation.

One of the objects of the present invention is to obviate the necessity of adjusting the inkfountain for different conditions, it being adjusted once for all to give the maximum amount of ink required; and the invention consists, partly, in a novel disengaging device for the transfer-roller, by means of which it is prevented from movingback and forth between the distributingcylinder and fountain-roller. In presses of this class having a substantially vertical bed the inking-rollers pass over the type between the bed and the platen at the time when the attendant is placing the sheet to be printed upon the platen, the said roll` ers pausing above the top of the bed and platen while the impression is being made. Ihese rollers have heretofore been, in some instances, unprotected on the side toward the platen, and-occasionally the attendant drops a sheet, which, if the rollers are unprotected, is likely to strike upon the surface of the said rollers and become entangled therewith, thus wasting the sheet, and also necessitating the stopping of the press and a considerable eX- penditure of time to get the rollers in proper condition for working again.

It also sometimes happens that the printing is done on portions of sheets that are larger than the platen. In such case the unprinted portion of the sheet projects above the platen, and unless great care is exercised while the impression is taking place it will get in contact with the inking-rollers then resting above the bed and platen, and thus become soiled. These objections are obviated in accordance with the present invention by providing a shield that may be readily attached to the carriage of the inking-rollers, it inclosing the portion of the said rollers toward the platen, and thus preventing the sheet from ever coming in contact with the said rollers. v

I am aware that presses have been made in which means are provided for throwing a transferring-roller that normally vibrates be'L tween a fountain-roller and rdistributing=cyl inder out of operation, and also that the carriagefor the hiking-rollers has been made to cover or protect the said. rollers.

Figure l isan end elevation of a sufficientV portion of a printing-press to illustrate this invention; Fig. 2, an end elevation of the inkin g-,rollers with the protecting-shield attached, on a larger scale; and Fig. 3, a front elevation thereof.

lThe main frame-work a and main actuatingshaft b, by which the platen and inking meehanism are actuated at each impression, may be of any suitable or usual construction, they being substantially as in the patent referred to. The ink is contained in a fountain of usual construction, one side of which is formed by the fountain-roller c, having a slight intermittent rotary motion, by which the ink is spread upon its surface, the said ink issuing in the narrow space between the usual flexible bottom of the fountain and the roller, and its amount being regulated by adjusting the said flexible bottom in the usual manner, the bottom of the fountain and its adjusting-screws not being shown, as they are well known in printing-presses, and form no part of the present invention. The said fountain-roller derives its rotary motion from a ratchet, d, connected with the arbor thereof, and the w eighted pawl c, pivoted at 2 upon one arm of a lever, j', itself pivoted at 3 upon the frame-work, and provided with a cam-roller, 4, resting on the surface of a cam, l1, carried by the main shaft b,the saidcam havin gadepression, (shown in dotted lines,) which permits the heavy end of the lever f to drop once at each rotation of the said shaft, thus drawing the pawl c back over a tooth of the ratchet d, so that when the high part of the cam h is brought under the roller -l it raises the said lever again, and thus rotates the ratchet d and fountain-roller c for the space of one tooth of the said ratchet. The ink thus spread on the surface of the roller c is transferred therefrom to the distributing-cylinder t' by means of the transferringroller 7c, having its bearings in oscillating arms m, pivoted at 5 upon the frame-work. One of said arms m is connected by a link, 71, with an arm, f', of the lever f, so that when the said lever is moved, as before described, at each rotation of the shaft I), the transfer-roller k drops upon the surface of the roller c, and is then carried back to the surface of the cylinder z', conveying the ink from the said roller c to the cylinder i, in the usual manner, this transfer of ink taking place once at each rotation of the shaft I), or, in other words, at each impression.

The parts thus far described have been einployed previous to this invention in presses of this class, and when the ink-fountain is adjusted to deliver the proper amount of ink to cover the faces of type occupyin g substantially the whole of the bed of the press, the said amount of ink will be too much when only a few lines of type are set up in the bed. This is compensated for in accordance with the present invention by a disengaging device, a', shown as an arm extending from the link a, and-adapted to be held by a co-operating projection or shoulder, o, upon the frame-werk when the lever j' is in its highest position, the roller 4 being on the highest portion of the cam'h. When the disengaging device a is thus held by the shoulder o, it prevents the lever f from falling when the raised portion of the cam comes beneath its roller, the said lever, with the actuating-pawl for the fountainroller, and the connecting-link between it and the transfer-roller k, thus all remaining stationary as long as the said disengaging device is held on its shoulder o, so that no ink will be conveyed from the fountain.

\Vhen the ink that has been previously conveyed to the surface of the cylinder t' becomes exhausted, the operator disengages the arm n from its shoulder o for a few rotations of the shaft b, until a sufficient quantity of ink has been conveyed to the surface of the cylinder t' for a number of impressions, after which the said ink-transferring mechanism is again disengaged until the amount of ink thusv transferred is exhausted. rlhese operations require only a little care and watchfulness on the part of the operator, without any expenditure of time, as the press is not to be stopped while the disengagin g device is being operated. The ink thus conveyed to and spread over the surface of the distributing-cylinder'i is distribnted upon the face of the type by the usual inking-rollers, p, the bearings of which are acted upon by springs r, tending to draw the rollers with a yielding pressure toward the face of the type and the surface of the distributingcylinder i, upon which they rest while the impression is being made, the said rollers travcling up and down over the track a between each two impressions, or while the platen is back from the bed receiving a new sheet.

ln order to prevent a sheet that is carelessly handled or that extends above the platen from coming in. contact with the inking-rollers p, their carriage p is provided with a protecting plate or shield, t, shown as connected with the said carriage by the thumb-screws a, Figs. 2 and 3, which wholly incloses and covers the said rollers on the side toward the platen, so that a sheet of paper carelessly handled is merely brought in contact with the said shield without injuring the sheet or causing it to become entangled with the rollers, and thus interfering with the operation of the press.

I do not claim a shield made as apermanent part of the inking-rollercarriage5but an independently-attachable shield of this nature can be employed in connection with the inkingrollers of any press in which such protection is desirable, the application not being limited to the particular forni of press herein shown and described. The cam h, lever f, and rollers c and k, with their ratchet and pawl and link connection with the said lever, may collectively be called the ink-transferring mechanism, 7 as the said parts all cooperate to transfer the ink from the fountain to the distributing-cylinder and inking-rollers. The distributing-cylinder t' runs in contact with another roller, t, which operates to lay the ink evenly IOO IIO

and thinly over the said cylinder i. Another roller, u, runs in contact With the roller t, it having a slight longitudinal movement on its shaft u, which, with the arbor t of the roller t, is supported in a slot, a2, in the frame-Work a, the said shaft u itself not rotating. The roller t, being of soft material, becomes irregular in shape, and the ink consequently is not distributed uniformly over the surface of the cylinder i. -This objection is obviated by means of the caps w, having a projection, w, entering the slot a2, and bearing on the shaft u of the roller u, the said caps being acted upon by thumb-nuts 102, by means of which the roller u is forcibly pressed against the roller t and the latter against the cylinder t', and, owing to the yielding nature of the material, their surfaces will thus be forced into contact throughout their length, and the ink distributed uniformly.

l. In aprinting-press, the co1nbination,with the ink-distributing cylinder, inking-rollers,

and ink-fountain, of the ink-transferring roller k, its oscillating bearing-arms m, the lever f, 25 actuated by the main shaft of the press, and the link n and disengaging device n', and shoulder o, co-operating therewith, by means of which the said ink-transferring roller may be thrown out of operation, substantially as 3o and for the purpose described.

2. In a printing-press, the combination of the inking-rollers, by which the ink is applied to the face of the type, with the independent detachable shield t, covering and inclosing the 3 5 portion of the said rollers toward the platen and sheet of paper thereon, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this speciiication in the presence of 4o two subscribing Witnesses.

eno. WILLIAMs on.

Vii nesses:

O. B. GRAvns, C. B. SEAGRAVE. 

